TUESDAY 14 APRIL 2025 18.30-20.00 BST (ZOOM)

Churchill's Forgotten Generals

Raymond Callahan

Generals Auchinleck, Slim and Savory and their role in the campaigns in Northeast India and Burma have been largely forgotten by historians. Auchinleck, as C-in-C India, made sure the Army was geared towards jungle warfare and improved the lot of Indian officers and men. Slim was the successful Commander of the 14th Army, who led it from defeat into victory. Savory, as Director of Infantry, ensured that all infantry battalions were trained for jungle warfare. The appointments of Auchinleck, Slim and Savory in 1943 were pivotal in the defeat of the Japanese in Burma. For the first time in the war the key figures in Indian military affairs were all drawn from the Indian Army and understood its traditions and ways.

Raymond Callahan is the author of Triumph at Imphal-Kohima: How the Indian Army Finally Stopped the Japanese Juggernaut and five other books on the Indian Army, including with Alan Jeffreys Churchill's Forgotten Generals: Victors in Burma (2025). He is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Delaware.